EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — An Army veteran charged with murder in the fatal shooting of his neighbor has filed notice that he’ll rely on an insanity defense. Jarrod William Pardun also says in that filing that he didn’t intend to kill 59-year-old Stephen Thurston last July 18.
Pardun’s trial on murder and other charges is set to begin March 30 in Eugene before Lane County Circuit Judge Maurice Merten. The judge has ordered the 29-year-old to submit to an examination next week by a prosecution psychologist.
Thurston died from a shotgun blast shortly after confronting Pardun about his driving in front of Thurston’s Creswell-area home.
Pardun told investigators the day of the shooting that he was under treatment for extreme post-traumatic stress disorder related to his Army service five years earlier.
